May 03, 2014

Introducing CM Storm Reaper Aluminum Gaming Mouse

CM Storm has been in the gaming peripherals market for quite some time and their products has pick up quite a lot of attention largely due to the overall consumer's satisfaction towards their mechanical keyboards. But what about CM Storm's gaming mice? Though they have released quite a few models in the market, they have to do something to differentiate themselves from the fierce competition on the market. For one is their competitive pricing, two, is their design.

Today we have CM Storm's top of the line gaming mouse, Reaper. It packs top range components as well as a rather unique choice of body material which is aluminum, just like the CM Storm MECH keyboard we reviewed recently.

Read on to know if the Reaper has what it takes to be the company's flagship gaming mouse.

*"Aluminum" is supposed to be "Aluminium", but since CM Storm clearly stated the word "Aluminum" on the box, we'll strictly follow CM Storm's decision.

Packaging

The front of the box features the photo of the mouse with bright and shiny effects.

It is a small box and doesn't look really outstanding when compared with other large packaging with front lid.

Details about the mouse at the back.

Sliding off the outer box reveals the inner all black box.

Open box.

Closer Look

Closer look at the mouse while it's still in the box.

What you get in the box:

CM Storm Reaper

User manual

Literally you're getting only the mouse without any other accessories. That's not what I'm expecting given that many other flagship mouse comes with more bits and pieces.

Standard USB connector.

The cable is cloth-braided and doesn't feel stiff at all.

Sometimes box art don't always do the justice of showing the exact look and feel of the product. That being said, the aluminum surface of the mouse is actually painted with sand-blast treated. The end result, a surface texture that resembles certain brand of premium electronic products on the market.

Top view. Other parts of the mouse is made of rubber coated plastic which has a rather nice soft touch feel to it. The coating also gives the mouse a contras-tic looks between the silver-ish aluminum and matte black plastic.

The mouse comes with a total of 7 buttons and a click-able scroll wheel. 4 of the buttons and scroll wheel are located at the top, while the rest at the left side of the mouse. All the buttons are programmable via the driver software and storable on the mouse's 128k on-board memory.

Underneath the left and right click buttons are the Omron micro switches which has superb clicky feel and longevity up to 5 million clicks.

The 3 buttons at the left side makes this a mouse designed for right-handed users.

Thumb buttons are strategically positioned for easy reach.

Then, the scroll wheel itself is a block of aluminum precisely cut and textured for grip.

Scrolling on the aluminum block feels solid and comfortable. It reeks an aura of confidence where no other mouse could compete. Hey don't you think it just looks beautiful?

Overall design strongly highlights the aluminum components on the mouse.

The AVAGO 9800 laser sensor is currently the most popular laser sensor among top of the range gaming mice.

That's pretty much everything under the mouse as there isn't any weight adjusting feature, hence no special mechanism or latch is present.

The Reaper comes with white LED lighting, perfect match to the aluminum theme of this mouse.

The "headlamp" also provides a cool-some ambient lighting.

Software

Driver

Driver is downloadable form CM Storm website and installation process is simple and straightforward.

Once you got the software loaded, the first panel "Main" is where you can configure all the functions assigned to the buttons. You can configure up to 4 different profiles as shown below. There's even a function to allow you to assign different image to each profile.

The "Advanced" panel is where you get to configure in depth settings such as DPI, LED mode and button response.

"Macro" panel, as the name suggest, is where you can record and program your macro functionalities. I tried playing around with it while trying to program some macro functions, to be frank, I'm not that impressed with the usability of the software. First is all those buttons arrangement and no obvious guide on what steps should we take in order to do it. Second, is the unintuitive procedure required in order to program your macro.

Let's take an example when I first trying to record a macro, I didn't know that I have to create a new Macro file before I can start recording, ended up everything I just recorded gone without any error message, nothing...

Though there are only 4 slots available for different profiles, but you can still create more profiles and selectively load/unload whenever you want.

"Library" panel is where you can save all your available macros and you can even import or export macros.

Lastly the "Support" panel is where CM shows their Support/Update statement.

If you unplug your mouse from the computer, this pop up window will notifying you that your mouse is disconnected. One thing however, even if you dismissed the notification, it will keep coming back every few minutes telling you that it can't detect your mouse. Really? CM?

It is so annoying that I can't even find any way to stop it other than killing the driver software. I mean, you don't have to keep notifying the user every few minutes that their mouse is disconnected. There must be some reason that the mouse is unplugged.

Final Thoughts

CM Storm Reaper

Pros

Great build quality

Comfortable grip

Responsive clicks

Solid aluminum scroll wheel

7 + 1 Customisable buttons and scroll wheel

128k on board memory

Subjective

Sculpted for right hand user

White LED lighting

Heavy (145 grams)

Cons

Heavy (145 grams)

No weight management

Poorly designed and unintuitive software

Build quality of this mouse is amazing partly due to the fact that parts of the mouse is consists of aluminum pieces. I'm sure that it will withstand all sorts of abuse before it could fall apart. But then, due to the aluminum parts, this mouse does not come light. At 145 grams, I consider it to be a heavy mouse. As there are no weight management options available, do take note of the weight before making your purchase.

Aesthetically, hands down to CM Storm for nailing it. The combination of matte black and silver, then matched with white LED makes this a cool looking mouse.

Performance wise, it packs Avago ADNS-9800 laser sensor which capable of reaching 8200 DPI. This is currently the most popular laser sensor that also used on other brand's flagship gaming mice. Thought not everyone would benefit from the high DPI, but it provides the larger range of DPI choices and freedom.

However, not every aspect of this mouse is perfect. For instance the driver software of the Reaper is exceptionally weak. For example, the troublesome and not-so-user-friendly steps to manage the macro. Not to forget the annoying "Hey, your mouse is disconnected" pop-up message. I mean, they could've done better with their software department if they put extra effort and attention to it.

The Reaper is a very good mouse as it comes with top of the range components at rather reasonable price tag of MYR269, though some might sell it at lower price, however just like any other products in the market, it has its own pros and cons. I'm actually quite torn in deciding which award should I give to it, due to its weak software department at the time of writing. If you're in the market for gaming mouse with top of the range specs yet don't want break your wallet, the Reaper would be at the top of your list if you're fine with a slightly heavy mouse and willing to wait for future software updates.